All-Star Age Grid 2020-2021

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Agreed. I think there would be major uproar if they got rid of D2.
There are about as many or maybe even more D2 programs than D1. Obviously the number of D1 athletes within the industry is higher, but I agree that it makes no sense to get rid of D2.
 
There are about as many or maybe even more D2 programs than D1. Obviously the number of D1 athletes within the industry is higher, but I agree that it makes no sense to get rid of D2.
It's been about 2 years since I really tracked these kinds of things, but there was a much larger percentage of D2 vs D1. Hard to fully verify, but my estimates were around 65-70 D2/30-35 D1 or so at that time, purely gyms not athlete numbers.

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There are about as many or maybe even more D2 programs than D1. Obviously the number of D1 athletes within the industry is higher, but I agree that it makes no sense to get rid of D2.
It wouldn't be "getting rid of D2 gyms", it would be discontinuing the dividing line and having everyone together again. Regardless, I don't think it would ever happen at this point for many reasons.
 
Side question:

I wonder to what degree you see gyms acting strategically during tryouts to STAY D2 and avoid D1 status.

Ex: Shady Athletics knows that once they hit XYZ number of kids, they are not D2 anymore. So instead of fielding a Large Junior 2, they cut kids to keep the gym small and make it a Small J2. Or instead of taking all those Tinys that showed up, you encourage some of them to enroll in their Mommy and Me cheer class and avoid making a Tiny 1 altogether.
We have a gym in town who has always said they will cap at the number for D2.
 
I think the D1/D2 divide is different based on where you live, also. Up here in the PNW, our D2 gyms out score the D2 gyms across the board. They're far better, on the whole. There are also far more of them. So while the D2 gyms have a harder time at local comps (half of the D1 teams compete against no one or one other team), they don't want to go against the huge gyms at the national level comps. So, they're quite content to hang out at D2 status and go to the D2 Summit.
 
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I am clearly quarantine bored.. but this means on a Junior team, someone could be 17 in the season.. someone born in 2004 will be 16 in 2020.. if they are already 16, they will be 17 in 2021.. doesn't someone see how crazy that is?
 
I am clearly quarantine bored.. but this means on a Junior team, someone could be 17 in the season.. someone born in 2004 will be 16 in 2020.. if they are already 16, they will be 17 in 2021.. doesn't someone see how crazy that is?

That is the reason my 15 year old rising high school sophomore (turning 16 in the fall) decided not to cheer next year. She is over the immaturity of the younger kids (not misbehaving, just not as focused). And it is harder to make friends with such a wide age range.
 
That is the reason my 15 year old rising high school sophomore (turning 16 in the fall) decided not to cheer next year. She is over the immaturity of the younger kids (not misbehaving, just not as focused). And it is harder to make friends with such a wide age range.

I can't say I blame her, and I also feel like some older athletes if placed on a junior team may leave their gyms.
 
I am clearly quarantine bored.. but this means on a Junior team, someone could be 17 in the season.. someone born in 2004 will be 16 in 2020.. if they are already 16, they will be 17 in 2021.. doesn't someone see how crazy that is?


According to the grid, a 17 year old could in theory be on the same Junior 1-3 team as a first grader.

What.
 
I can't say I blame her, and I also feel like some older athletes if placed on a junior team may leave their gyms.

If it's a larger gym I get why they want to stack the junior teams with the older athletes. They will be stronger, taller, have more of a stage presence (my opinion). So they might win more but I don't think it is what's best for the 15-16 year olds.
 
For mini & youth they raised the age by about 6 months with the shift to birth year. My CP who recently turned 12 is eligible for youth still. Someone who turned 9 this year is eligible for mini.

But for junior they raised the age by 1.5 years. It used to be 14, now it’s 15 or just turned 16. Almost no difference to senior. Weird!
 
Since youth age is up to 12 now, I'm wondering if there's going to be a couple more Youth 5 teams now that 12 year olds can be on the team?
 
Since youth age is up to 12 now, I'm wondering if there's going to be a couple more Youth 5 teams now that 12 year olds can be on the team?

With the overlap though, I feel like most coaches would opt to create a super stacked J6 with more talented littles over creating a smaller Youth team because work smarter not harder.

(That's what kind of killed Y5 to begin with. It was already super small but then USASF debuted JR5, coupled with Junior age changes and it just kind of died out.)

I do think there is something to be said for KEEPING talented youth aged kids together with age-appropriate peers (particularly if your gym is heavy on under 10 talent), especially since the top age of Junior is so high at some levels. Not everyone wants to be the baby of a J6 for like 4 years.
 
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